The Bozeman weekly chronicle., 1887-04-27
Whole No. 221
Farm Notes.

Any kind of stock that is petted is
pretty sure to be thrifty. The reason Is
that it will receive greater variety of
food. To this extent it will pay to pet
everything on the farm. With horses
and cows this extra attention is impor-
tant, as it keeps them more gentle for
work or for furnishing milk. Besides In
the case of cows the great variety of food
makes her ravenous eater, and this is
the indispensable requisite for yielding
large quantities of milk. This is one OF
the reasons why a COW that is the sole
possession ofa poor family isapt to be all
unusually good one.
1t would instruct farmers to visit a
commercial greenhouse now and then
and observe, and perhaps adopt, some OF
the methods there employed. The first
point which would impress them is the
large results from small space. Indeed
land is hardly counted factor in pro
duction. 1t is not uncommon to find q
single rose bush that has yielded from
$25 to $50 worth of flowers in a season.
Horticulture is the poetry of soil cultiva-
ton, and farming is the prose. But l
have thought that not infrequently a
farmer near town might use little
glass for flowers as well as garden truck
to his pecuniary advantage as well as
relief from operations which become
monotonous.
1t is estimated that the increase in the
acreage of fall wheat in Northwestern
Wisconsin for the present season is at
least Is per cent. The plant, except on
the high knobs, has been covered by
deep layer of snow during the entire
winter. The late thawing weather has
removed most of that covering and as
the fields become bare it appears to be
in the best condition; the only unprom-
Using spots Deing on top of the higher
elevations where it is of dead white
color, but with vitality still left in the
roots even there. Little if any injury
has been done by heaving from the
freezing and thawing weather of the
last ten days.
Fowls have marked individuality.
In flock of Plymouth Rocks, the mem
bers Of which, to the careless observer,
look as near alike as the peas in peck
measure, the owner can select and call
by its name each one. The study of
these individual traits. the idiosyncracies
of each fowl, is not only interesting and,
like virtue. its own exceeding great re-
ward, but it is profitable in q pecuniary
sense. Such knowledge enables the
owner to select for breeding purposes
not only the individuals which score the
highest, but those which are of the
quietest disposition, which are the most
prolific, and which in other ways possess
those qualities which it is desirable
should be perpetuated. A hens record
on eggs Is in the last analysis of greater
importance than her score made up from
only exterior qualities.
Just'as soon as the land is in condition
to work, it is time to mend the country
roads. A keen observer once said:
"Let me travel over the roads of any
country and I will tell you the character
of its inhabitants" And he was right.
The public roads are an index to the
prosperity and enterprise of the people
who make them. There should be no
attempt to put off this work of improv-
ing the roads, until the last possible
moment, when it must be done in that
shiftless manner that characterizes so
much hasty work.